


Heat

by thegreatgayjatsby



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Fluff, Prompt: fighting over temperature, Rumbelle - Freeform, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 15:03:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2777552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatgayjatsby/pseuds/thegreatgayjatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Rumpelstiltskin cannot deal with the heat and Belle knows his castle is too cold for her to work. Their petty argument over temperature results in affection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heat

**Author's Note:**

> First work in the fandom. I'm still in season one, this ship is adorable though.

Perhaps the dining hall wasn’t the best place to set up a spinning station, but it’s so nice to not have to travel room to room to go about tasks of the day. Rumplestiltskin likes the room nice and cool. Whenever he enters, he puts the fire in the hearth out, and he settles at his spinning wheel to work. 

He never had a problem with that until Belle got there. 

Rumple spent his afternoons astride the little wooden stool at his wheel, spinning gently. The monotony of the work calmed him, helped him to revel in his thoughts. He was easily distracted when he wasn’t at work spinning. 

He wasn’t expecting a disruption, not at all. Belle worked quietly, cleaning away his lunch tray and wiping down the table, dusting the artifacts within his cabinet of curiosities. She brought him his afternoon tea, smiling quaintly as he plucked it from her hands to take a sip. She knew how to make it perfectly, an exquisite blend of sugar and leaf. 

She floated throughout the room as he sipped and spun, tying back the curtains and beating the dust from them so she could later sweep the floors. He held the cup out behind himself when he was finished, too far in his own working headspace to summon her.

Belle came to him quickly, taking the cup and setting it on the tray on the table before bustling back to her own tasks. It didn’t take Rumple long to notice the change in atmosphere. Beads of sweat appeared upon his brow, and his heavy leather tunic became suffocating. He absentmindedly tugged on his collar, nails scratching at the skin of his throat lightly. 

“Dearie?” He called, pausing in his spinning and frowning slightly as he removed the strand of thread from the spindle and turned to survey the room. 

“Mm?” She hummed softly, turning from where she had curled upon the high-backed arm chair adjacent to the hearth. She tore her gaze from her book and let it alight on Rumple, who gave a little giggle as he stood. 

“It is much too hot in here. I cannot breathe.” He stated plainly, eyes wandering past her to the crackling flame in the fireplace. His fingers gave a little twitch, as if he was stamping down the desire to throttle something. “Would you mind offing that flame?” 

It wasn’t a question, no. Belle knew he was aggravated, and she leafed the page of her book and set it down before standing. “It was cold in here. Some people don’t wear layer upon layer of leather and fur.” She replied, even as she worked to set the fire out. 

He watched, head cocked slightly, and when she looked up, he had drifted across the room. He opened the closet across the hall and brandished a long, heavy fur cloak with a flourish, skipping towards her and placing it over her shoulders. Belle smiled softly and closed her eyes, reaching up to grasp one of his hands before he had the chance to remove it from her shoulder. 

“Thank you, Rumplestiltskin.” She said softly, squeezing his hand and ghosting her thumb across the eczema-like scales of his skin. 

His fingers gave another little twitch, and he licked his lips before pulling back. Her smile brightened, and she returned to her reading as he returned to his wheel. Perhaps that interaction had been worth the heat. He was warm now, anyways, but it was emanating from within, this time.


End file.
